Monument inscriptions in Han Chinese and Nom (old Vietnamese script based on Chinese characters) at the royal citadel in Hue will be submitted to UNESCO to be recognised as a World Document Heritage.

Phan Thanh Hai, deputy director of the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre, said the Han writing was used in official feudal correspondences.

The scripts are used for both verse and prose, including thousands of poems and celebratory eulogies carved on palaces, steles, mausoleums and other monuments.

The most notable are poems celebrating spring, which are carved on Ngo Mon (Noon gate) and on the roof of Thai Hoa Palace .

Other highlights are a series of gilded poems in the palace presumably written by a number of kings about the country's independence, sovereignty, peace and prosperity.

One of the poems is seen as a declaration of independence of the Nguyen dynasty, the country's last feudal regime.

The poem reads: The country has a civilisation of thousands of years/ Its territory stretches thousands of miles/ Ever since its establishment under Hong Bang Family/ The country is prosperous and mighty.

Historians and experts, who have praised the poem's value, said they were an important part of the soul of Hue when it was the royal capital of the country.

Hai said the compilation of the inscriptions and other necessary work will be completed by 2014, and submitted to UNESCO the following year.

Because of the small group of scholars in the country who understand the Nom script, the work of translation and other duties will take several years, according to the centre.

The Hoi An People's Committee approved using the city's budget to upgrade and restore degraded historical heritages in the town.

The town, recognised by the UNESCO as a World Heritage site, is a major tourism attraction in the country.

According to an announcement made on August 1 by the Hoi An Centre for Management and Preservation of Monuments, 61 historic heritage monuments in Hoi An are seriously degraded with 28 having a high risk of collapsing.

Town authorities have tasked the centre with making a list of degraded heritage monuments and restoring them.

The Netherlands-based Prince Claus Fund has donated 22,000 EUR (16,600 USD) to restore a historic monument on Nguyen Thai Hoc Street./.